I am really enjoying Barbara Kingsolver's book,
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle that I mentioned in a post earlier this week. Today is a beautiful day, so I went to one of our four large farmers' markets to see what local produce was available. It is my goal to make one meal a week with all ingredients from known and local sources.
My brother Philip has a large property in Mexico that has his home, my parent's home and a school on the premises. He also has at least a hundred fruit trees, from oranges to olives, that he has planted. He is never without seasonal fruit. He has ducks who eat the food scraps from the the two households, and he used to have milk cows as well. To round out their food choices, he takes his motorcycle to the Abastos Market for more local fruit and produce. I wish I had that kind of year-round local availability of fresh food.
Today, I purchased the scant amount of locally grown food that was available. The market had fresh asparagus and fiddleheads and I picked lettuce and rhubarb from the garden. We have lake trout that my husband caught on Manitoulin Island last month. Local dinner #1.
I bought some heirloom beefsteak tomato plants grown from seeds kept over from last year's crop. The vendor has maintained these plants for the past 40 years and states that they are disease and crack resistant.
The lovely Mennonite girls were selling flowers, jam and maple syrup. I bought a Jack in the Pulpit, Wild Iris, and Solomon's Seal from them for my wildflower garden.
The Becka came eagerly to the door to help me bring in my market purchases. She wasn't too impressed with the prospects for dinner. We are off to the supermarket to round out the food choices for the week, but will do so with a little more thought and consideration.
(Checkherefor my recipe for fiddleheads)
I am really enjoying Barbara Kingsolver's book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle that I mentioned in a post earlier this week. Today is a beautiful day, so I went to one of our four large farmers' markets to see what local produce was available. It is my goal to make one meal a week with all ingredients from known and local sources.
My brother Philip has a large property in Mexico that has his home, my parent's home and a school on the premises. He also has at least a hundred fruit trees, from oranges to olives, that he has planted. He is never without seasonal fruit. He has ducks who eat the food scraps from the the two households, and he used to have milk cows as well. To round out their food choices, he takes his motorcycle to the Abastos Market for more local fruit and produce. I wish I had that kind of year-round local availability of fresh food.
I bought some heirloom beefsteak tomato plants grown from seeds kept over from last year's crop. The vendor has maintained these plants for the past 40 years and states that they are disease and crack resistant.
The lovely Mennonite girls were selling flowers, jam and maple syrup. I bought a Jack in the Pulpit, Wild Iris, and Solomon's Seal from them for my wildflower garden.
The Becka came eagerly to the door to help me bring in my market purchases. She wasn't too impressed with the prospects for dinner. We are off to the supermarket to round out the food choices for the week, but will do so with a little more thought and consideration.